Book Review: Niklas Luhmann, Die Religion der Gesellschaft (Religion of Society) (Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp Verlag, 2000, 361 pp., euro 21,47 hbk.)
| Author | Bernt H. Berger |
| Published date | 01 December 2000 |
| DOI | 10.1177/03058298000290030809 |
| Date | 01 December 2000 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Millennium
910
form of ‘communitari anism’ in the instrume ntal and functiona list European
project, in the contex t of the Ba lkans she is co ncerned th at the reduction of the
highest val ue, that is, ‘God’, to human value is the ‘final trap of nihi lism’ (p. 17 8).
We suddenly become aware that in her delineati on of Orthodox sub jectivity she
does no t regard ‘triumphan t nihilism’ in the way that Nietzsche considered ‘active
nihilism’, bu t sees in it a grave dan ger to the people of the Balkans who are, in thi s
way, ‘helple ss in contempo rary history’ (p. 181 ).
The collec ted essays amount to fascin ating reading because t hey offer a depth of
analysis, which is both timely in its inspiration and compelling in its execution.
The last two essa ys, in particular, discuss issues of grea t intere st to scholars of
ethics, sub jectivity and faith. Specifically, the co nstitution of the Ort hodox subject
is b rought to bear on th e issue of Eu ropean subjec tivity and i ts purporte d
vulnerabil ity, an i ssue of great interest to a special issue on re ligions and
internatio nal relations.
LOUIZA ODYSSEOS
Louiza Odysseos is a Research Student in the Departme nt of International
Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science
Niklas Luhmann, Die Religio n der Gesel lschaft (Religio n of So ciety) (Frankfurt
a.M.: Suhrkamp Verlag, 2000, 361 pp., 21,47 hbk.).
On the occasion of its fiftieth annive rsary, the renown ed publis hing house
Suhrkamp po sthumously published two unfini shed books by Niklas Lu hmann, who
died in 1998, thereby making available h is complete last cycle. Religion of Society
is, along with The Polit ics of Society (the second book) and The Society of Society,
a con tinuation of the introductory work i n Social Systems, and part of a coherently
conceptualised œuvre.
With Religion of Society, Luhmann joins the sociolo gy of rel igion tradition,
which was strongl y influ enced by Durkheim, Weber, as well as by function al
theories in Social Anthropology. It would, however, not have been Luhmann if the
book had started or ended there. The methodological location of the book can be
easily describ ed. Within modern secul arised societies religion is a communication s
system. In the systems-theo retical analysi s, specific religious fo rms and contents
are of minor importance. M ax Weber was interested in expl aining how action was
endowed with a cultural sense, while Durkheim defined religi on as a moral fact.
The question of sociology i s, however, how to analyse religion witho ut doing so
out o f the religious contex t. In contrast, ontological explan ations describe religio n
on the b asis of its charact er and are thus ad apting an epistemolo gical view, closely
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